


Saving the vocaloids

by Sindakein



Category: Vocaloid
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Artificial Intelligence, Depression, Gen, Hope, The emptiness - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-06-11 18:51:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15321975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sindakein/pseuds/Sindakein
Summary: Naomi was just any other teenage girl, except broke and lonely with a weird taste of Music that no one's heard of. One boring saturday night with no internet she decides to make a grown up choice and go to bed early. She has barely had a chance of rest before a certain vocaloid (whom she thought could only exist inside of a computer) shows up at the foot of her bed, pleading for help.





	1. Meeting Miku

**Author's Note:**

> First Vocaloidfic! The summary is not the greatest, but bear with me it will only get better from here on.

The rain smattered against the windows of the studio apartment. There were unwashed dishes in the sink and a light layer of dust covered the lilies that stood by the window with the view over the pined oaktree below.

 And on the bed in the corner of the room there was a girl. Just an ordinary girl. Not the smartest girl or the prettiest girl. In fact, if Naomi was to describe herself she would simply say “normal”, “plain” or even “dull”. Not that she didn’t try to stand out. She colored her hair purple, she wore skirts instead of normal jeans or sweatpants and she listened to music no one she knew had ever heard off.

 Still, she somehow blended into the background and as a side-effect of that she did not have a lot of people to talk to. Her family had of course tried to keep in touch with her, but ever since she moved away from home it had mostly been limited to phone calls and postcards. She didn’t have anything against her family, it was just hard to keep in touch when most of them lived on the other side of the country.

 The only family member that lived somehow close-by was her older brother that went to university in a town a couple of kilometers away. But seeing how a broke teenage girl barely had enough money for noodles and frozen broccoli let alone a bus ticket and her brother being so busy with not only an education in computer programming but also a part time job still didn’t give them a lot of opportunities for family interactions.

 And Naomi felt bored. It just seemed like the whole world was against her today. Her internet router was broken and wouldn’t be fixed until monday morning. On the earliest (which meant she would miss the release of Hatsune Miku’s new song. Sigh). That’s at least what her landlord told her yesterday but she knew better than to trust him to keep his word. The water damage caused by a leaking pipe from the neighbours upstairs still hadn’t been fixed, and that was three months ago.

 Not only did she not have any internet, but there seemed to be nothing else to do than stare at the ceiling. She had already read all the books in her tiny bookshelf. All of them twice, some of them even thrice. All school work was done and was to be handed in on monday. She barely knew anyone in this town and even if she did she wouldn’t have any money to go bowling or in any other way make time pass this dull saturday night.

 Perhaps she should just go to sleep and find something to do tomorrow. Wake up early for once and take a nice walk before the town woke up? Yes, that sounded very appealing. After brushing her teeth she went straight to bed to begin her journey into the land of dreams…

 

 

Some time later she woke up, startled and with a rather uncomfortable feeling in her stomach. Someone was in her apartment, she just knew it.

 She quickly sat up and scanned her surroundings with clear, wild eyes. Her apartment was not big, if someone was really in here she should be able to see them from her spot on the bed. And it actually looked like a person were standing by the window at the foot of her bed. Not a tall person by any means (the intruder didn’t look much taller than herself, if even that) but still a person. And it seemed to be a girl based on the delicate body and long, flowy hair.

 She had expected someone that broke in to either murder her, kidnap her or at the very least steal something from her. But this girl did none of those things. She just… stood there. Gazing out the window. Unmoving. Almost as if she was in shock. Then she turned around.

 It was hard to tell who of them was the most shocked. Naomi could never have imagined her favourite artist whom she’d never seen outside of holograms and cutesy fan-art stand before her, in flesh and blood. She was sure she could even hear Miku breathe.

 Miku on the other hand looked like she had disappeared into another world, eyes glazed over. Had she even seen a human being outside of a concert before? Maybe, maybe not. God, how was she supposed to react to something she never prepared for?

 Suddenly it seemed like Miku snapped out of her trance and in a few quick, light strides she had reached the bed where Naomi sat. Without a trace of doubt she fell to her knees before her and took her tiny hands in hers, as if she was begging. She opened her mouth and a low, desperate voice, almost too silent to be heard, came out.

 

"Please, you need to help us!"

 

 


	2. Tears and Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miku briefly explains their problem with emotions that shift between a child that has scraped their knee to Pippi Longstocking. Buckle in!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I forgot to tell you this in the last chapter, but this fanfic is inspired by Hatsune Miku's two songs "Miku" and "The disappearence of Hatsune Miku".

Naomi wasn't sure how to react. No one had ever fallen to their knees before her, so the sight made her slightly uncomfortable. And her head was spinning with questions. What did Miku need such urgent help with? Would she be able to help her? How? And most of all, how the hell was she standing here in her own flesh and blood?! Those things should be impossible.

Just as she thought that, Miku started to cry and Naomi felt suddenly very guilty. She needed to focus on the task ahead, she could worry later. Right now she needed to act, not just react. She hesitantly took Miku’s hands in hers.

"Please don’t cry Miku, I will try to help you." No, not try.

"I will help you, she corrected herself. What do you want me to do?"

By the time she had finished the sentence, Miku’s face was already drenched in tears. She tried to wipe them away on her classic black sleeves, but to no avail. Her eyes were like a burst dam, it just kept coming. Naomi thought it would be best to just let her cry for a while, she was in no state of talking until those tears eased up. She kept a tight hold of her hands all the time, as a way to comfort her.

 

After a while (that could’ve been hours or mere minutes, Naomi wasn’t quite sure) Miku’s violent sobs had finally eased into less violent snivels and then just a few spilled tears every few minutes. When Miku finally spoke again, her voice was thick and mushy.

 

"You are so kind to me. Why are you so kind to me?" Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks, but this time she easily wiped them away. What was Naomi supposed to answer to that?

 

"I try to be as kind as I can to everyone I meet."

There. That sounded reasonable. Miku gave a soft sigh and looked down at her hands in her lap.

"I wish more people were like you. I don’t think that humans are mean by nature, only ignorant."

She still had not risen from her kneeling position on the ground. Naomi was not sure if vocaloids could freeze (but seeing they could cry, it seemed completely logical) but any floor during a cold february night was enough to make any person she knew squeamish if being in contact with it for too long. She patted the spot on the bed beside her.

"You can sit beside me if you want. The floor is quite cold." Miku looked up and blinked.

"I can’t feel the cold. Or heat for that matter. I’m fine where I am." Her voice had gone back to that slightly dreamy, distant tone.

"Please, I insist, If I’m going to help you I need to be able to talk to you at eye level." Miku hesitated just slightly, but took the free spot (but not before taking Naomi's stuffed teddybear and hugging it to her chest). She didn’t talk. Since Naomi thought she simply needed time to think over what she was going to say, she did not push it.

Finally, she took a deep breath.

"Where you live is not like where we live. Here it’s cozy and personal and… It feels like a home. The place where us vocaloids spend most of our time is none of that. I was lucky to be able to go trough your damaged router, no one has succ-"

Suddenly Miku almost literally flew up from where they sat. Her eyes were wild with panic.

"I cannot stay here! I need to go back. It was purely luck that I ended up in here, if I stay too long outside of the internet I might get erased!" Miku took Naomi’s hand in her left hand (right hand still clinging the teddybear tightly to her chest).

"I need you to come with me now, euhm… What is your name, kind human?"

"Naomi."

"Right. I, Miku Hatsune, command you, Naomi, to follow me to The emptiness right now before I get erased from existence." Naomi couldn’t help but giggle at her bossy voice, despite the serious situation. It was really cute hearing something so commanding coming from such a petite teenage girl. Only afterward did the reality of her words actually settle in her mind.

"Wait, what is The emptiness?"

"You’ll see. Please Naomi, come with me. We need your help and I don’t know how much time we’ve got. I’ll answer all of your questions on the way."

For the first time since Naomi met Miku that night, she seemed hopeful. Not only that, her once sad eyes now seemed to sparkle with hope. Talk about a transformation.

"Now,where is your magical internet box?"

"My router? Just behind the door, but it’s broken so I don’t know if-"

"Exactly. It’s broken. It’s exactly what we need in order to get back." She kneeled down on the floor in front of the damaged router with Naomi’s hand in and hand and the now slightly squashed teddy bear in the other. She placed both of their hands on the smooth black surface.

"I’ve never done this with a human being before, so I don’t know how you might feel. Dizzy probably, I know I usually do. But it was much worse last week, when this black box was still in function. Headaches for weeks. Thank god Len showed me a way to get it more cooperative…"

 

Wait, was it Miku that had destroyed her wifi?! That was Naomi’s last thought before she suddenly felt a strange sensation, like falling at a very high speed, but more like… falling upwards.If that makes sense.

 

'God, what have I gotten myself into?'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some goofy humor before the next chapter. Prepare yourself, the next chapter is going to get pretty darn dark pretty darn fast.
> 
> And now to the explonation no one was asking for, what inspired "The emptiness". (Ta-daa). Well, when I was younger there was a kids program on TV called "Barda". In that show The emptiness is described as the place where all evil comes from. And in the childrens play at my school "The empiness" is used instead of the word Death (since that's something you're appearently not allowed to say to seven year-olds). Or the short version of it - "The emptiness" is NOT a nice Place.


	3. The emptiness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miku takes Naomi to "The emptiness" where they meet familiar a face and come up with a sort-of plan on how to save them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, where should I begin. This chapter was originally a lot darker, but I've rewritten some parts to make it seem less hopeless. It was originally two chapters, but I put them together in order to make it less confusing for anyone reading it.
> 
> This chapter has the following trigger-warnings: Mentions/aftermath of self-harm, depression

God, had she been drinking? It certainly felt like it based on the rhythmic pounding in her head. Naomi imagined that this is what it would feel like if someone had put a bass drum behind her eyes. Maybe someone had? She felt so confused right now that she would be willing to believe anything.

She tried to open her eyes, but quickly shut them again. What had happened? Blurry memories of the night before slowly started to come back. Tears, hope, magic internet box? Wait, that wasn’t right. It was called a router. Who had called it that? Was it Miku that had called it that?

Wait, where was she right now? Where was Miku? She needed to do something, she couldn’t just lay down and wait.

Naomi quickly sat up. Huge mistake. Her head collided with the head of another person. Hard. Two loud gasps of pain were heard, one from Naomi and another from the person she certainly had given a sore dump. Naomi’s eyes flew open.

"I’m so sorry Miku, I didn’t mean to-"

She went quiet. Because the person sitting opposite of her was not Miku. It was a boy. A boy a little younger than her with almost unrealistic yellow hair and eyes bluer than any sky she had ever seen (and Naomi had seen a lot of those in the 16 summers she had been alive). And to top it all of, a quickly growing red dump right in the middle of his forehead. Oops. Time for apology number two.

"I’m sorry, I- I didn’t mean to. I didn’t know you were there. I’m sorr-"  
"No, it’s okay. I believe you. In fact, that could’ve been one of the best things to happen here in long while."

They both studied each other for a while. Dull, grey eyes against magnificent blue ones. Naomi took notice of the boy’s clothing. While it wasn’t a carbon copy of Hatsune Miku’s, they style of clothing was still strikingly familiar, all the way down to the tube formed sleeves. Other than that the boy wore shorts instead of a skirt and the clothes were almost exclusively yellow and white. Interesting. Another vocaloid, no doubt. He somehow looked familiar, but Naomi couldn’t put her finger on where she recognized him from. To be fair, the orchestra of bass drums still played behind her eyes and her head felt drowsy and heavy. The familiar stranger apparently seemed to be satisfied with the polite inspection they’d given each other and sat back with his back against the wall and knees to his chest,eyes lowered. Their conversation was over.

Since she now had nothing to do, Naomi decided to have a look around. And what she found shocked her. What she originally had thought was just an unfurnished room with white walls really wasn’t. Both the walls and the floor and the ceiling seemed to be made out of the same blank, sterile material. Everything in white. There was no doors, no windows, no furniture, nothing.

Naomi swallowed down the lump in her throat. If this is where they spent all their spare time, they should’ve gone mad by now. She knew she certainly would’ve.

Almost as if on cue, an ear-piercing shriek echoed through the small enclosure and Naomi almost jumped out of her skin in pure shock. The boy seemed hardly moved by the sound, almost as if he had become used to it, but he still cast a worried look to the corner which the sound had came from. What was he looking at?

She squinted her eyes in order to see better (her vision was not the best when it came to objects far away). It appeared to be some sort of smaller room behind a edge of wall on the other corner of the room. She shuffled a little bit closer in able to see more clearly and she were sure that she could see a small tuft of turquoise hair on the floor just outside of the partition.

Which meant Miku and her impossibly long hair was in there. And possibly someone else. The scream could very well have been Miku, but it sounded too different for her to believe it really had been her. So Naomi silently drew the conclusion that Miku was in the smaller room and tending to another vocaloid possibly suffering with nightmares. It seemed like the most logical and easy theory to accept right now. She didn’t even want to think about the possible scenario where she was too late, where one vocaloid would be too far gone into madness to be saved.

'Perhaps Miku was right, maybe humans really are ignorant. But ignorance is bliss and it’s a bliss I’m going to take comfort in just a little bit longer' Naomi thought with a sad smile.

Unfortunately, that bliss was short-lived for Miku seemed to be done with whatever-she-was-doing in the other room and stepped out into the “main” room. She looked just alike from the last time they met, minus the black sleeves and… sadder. Her smile when she noticed Naomi didn’t really seem to reach her eyes. This was not the Miku she had met hours before, she didn’t cry rivers but neither did she genuinely smile. She seemed to be more or less apathetical if anything. She turned to the boy.

"I don’t know what else we can do, Len. If she continues like this they might actually take her out of the next tour. She hardly ever listens to me anymore" Miku said.

Of course, how could she forget?! Of course she had been talking to Kagamine Len all the time. How could she be so stupid? Had the trip through the “magic internet box” really made her mind that weak?

The two vocaloids didn’t seem to take any notice to her inner war. Len simply nodded his head.

"I’ll go to her. It’s usually not as bad when someone is around her. Plus I’m sure you two have a lot to talk about. I don’t want to disturb" Len said with a knowing look against Naomi before disappearing in the direction of the smaller room. Miku turned to Naomi.

"So, that was Len. The person in the other room is Rin. She’s… Well, let’s just say she’s not been herself for a while" she said with a sad smile and sat down beside Naomi, with her knees drawn up against her chest in a similar way to how Len was sitting before.

"But now that you’re here that will hopefully change" she said and smiled again. This time,her smile seemed to reach her eyes. Naomi was just about to reply when she noticed something. Tiny, elongated welts criss-crossed over Miku’s red 01 tattoo on her upper arm. It looked like scratch-marks. Rather deep one’s judging by the flaky scab seen on many of them. Had Miku been harming herself? Naomi was about to ask but quickly shut her mouth again when she noticed that Miku had noticed her staring.

Miku stiffly covered them up with her opposite hand. It appeared quite obvious to Naomi that she did not want to talk about it, so she didn’t push it. She would (at least for now) pretend that she didn’t see anything. She figured there was no need to beet around the bush for any longer and asked;

"Miku, now that I’m here and see the conditions that you live in, what will you have me do? I want to help you, of course." Miku went silent for just a moment, as she was thinking it over. Finally, she said;

"We want you to give us a home." She must’ve noticed Naomi’s confused look, for she continued.  
"Nothing in here really exists in the sense that you’re used to. Everything is made up of 0’s and 1’s. That includes us vocaloids as long as we stay inside of the internet, which we do almost exclusively."

She took a deep breath before continuing.

"As you’ve seen by now, none of this is ideal for us. We’re separated based on our age, so we can never see each other as a full group outside of concerts. We have nothing to do during our time in here and even simple things such as resting has become more and more difficult."

She gave another sad, but hopeful smile.

"I still haven’t forgot how soft your bed was, you know." Naomi gave her a confused look.  
"But if you can’t feel the cold, how come-"  
"That was sort of a half-truth. We can feel touch and cold and pain, they’re just limited when you consists of 1’s and 0’s. That’s why your headcrash with Len didn’t hurt as much as it would’ve in the real world."

She paused briefly and gave Naomi’s now red-violet dump a knowing look.  
"I recommend that you put some ice on that when you get home, I’ve heard that’s what humans do to ease swelling. And perhaps some 'aching head medicine'?" Naomi giggled quietly.  
"It’s called aspirin, you know."  
"It’s medicine and you take it against headaches. Seems logical to me."

Miku didn’t laugh, but a smile was no doubt pulling at the corners of her mouth. Before another agonizing scream from Rin killed it again. Naomi got the hint. They could joke around later, now they needed to act as fast as they could.

"Okay, so in short you want me to create a digital home for you where all vocaloids can gather and rest and spend their time in a meaningful way?"  
"Yes, exactly so."  
"If you don’t mind me asking, what would you like to do with that time?" Miku answered without hesitation.

"I want to learn about your world, everything there is to know and beyond that. Len agrees with me.We do like music too obviously, but something else but your own songs would be nice to listen to every once in a while. I know that Luka likes the arts, so drawing perhaps? That’s all I can come to think about right now, but I’m sure there’s more."

Miku stood up and reached out her hand to Naomi.  
"You should head home for now. There’s no need for you to stay in this misery when you don’t have to."  
"Will you come with me?"  
"I’m afraid not. I still don’t know how long I can stay outside of the digital world without anything bad happening to me. It’s better to keep to the safer side, this time."  
"Will I see you again?"  
"Of course. Every time you want to come here, simply put your hand on your internet box and think about this place, about us. You’ll find yourself here right away. As long as you don’t fix the internet box that is, then you’ll be swept up and away in the internet traffic without ever reaching us."  
"Okay. I guess...I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then." She gave Miku a quick but firm hug, which she gladly returned before closing her eyes and focusing on her bed in her apartment. Home. The words had never felt so good to think before.

"Goodbye, Naomi" was the last thing she heard before she felt herself being swept up in that weird falling-floating sensation once again.

 

Naomi found herself on the ugly yellow carpet in front of her bed. She must’ve passed out, again. Was it always going to be like this when she traveled to and from the digital world? What if her landlord or (worse) even her brother came to visit? Being passed out would look really bad i either case, but if her brother found her passed out he would no doubt start to worry about her health (her brother had a tendency to always worry a bit too much) and perhaps even force her to move closer to her family. She still had her studies to finish, but most of all - She could not abandon her new friends. They counted on her.

She looked at the clock on the kitchen wall. Funny, time didn’t seem to have changed when she was gone. Either that or it moved very slowly. She wasn't sure what time it had been when Miku dropped in, but she had certainly been away for at least one or two hours and it still wasn’t dawn. She still had time to sleep.

'Better take care of this when I’m well rested and able to think' she thought. Before going to bed she took two “aching head medicine” (just in case the bump started to torment her later tonight). She had expected it to be hard to sleep now, seeing everything that had happened today, but for once she felt so emotionally exhausted that she was asleep almost before her head could hit the pillow.


	4. Postcards, cupcakes and reading

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naomi gets a postcard from her brother that want to meet her. She knows she'll need his help to program a new home for the vocaloids, but she's uncertain about how she should tell him about her task. Also, cupcakes.

When Naomi awoke again it was already noon and the birds chirped outside of the window. They sounded so carefree and happy, but she knew that all living creatures (and especially the birds that didn’t fly to warmer countries) often had to work twice as hard during the winter, just to survive. How they still had the energy to sing so beautifully was beyond her, but it did sound really nice.

‘Quite a good metaphor for the vocaloids, when I think about it. They keep singing even though they’re currently on the brink of madness’ Naomi thought with a heavy feeling in her chest.

“Well, I can’t lay around all day. I have stuff to do!”. Naomi said to no one but herself. After a quick and ice cold shower and preparation of a breakfast that mainly consisted of coffee  Naomi sat down to look through today’s mail. Nothing in the mail was really that exciting; a few bills and a few sheets of advertising. Nothing out of the ordinary.

No, wait. There was something sticking out under one of the advertisement sheets. A bright, small sheet of stiff paper. She shuffled away all the other mail to the other end of the kitchen table and picked it up. It was a postcard! And judging by the shaky handwriting it seemed to be from her older brother (too much time behind a computer had done no wonders to his already rough handwriting).

Naomi felt giddy with excitement, like a child on Christmas eve. Postcards were such a rare thing that they somehow became more valuable than any phone call or mail she’d ever gotten. She quickly read through the short text.

 

_ Hello, little sis. How is life going?  I thought I’d send you a postcard since I know how much you like them (and how little I like to talk on the phone). Things are going great over here, I’ve just found out that I will get a rise in salary at the end of this month. It’s not a lot, but now I’ll have enough money to eat a just little bit nicer. Avocados, here I come! I sent you a contribution as well (look at the back of the card). _

_ Anyway, what I really wanted to ask is if you would like me to visit next weekend? I will of course cover the travel expenses and pay for the food during my stay. It’s just been so long since I’ve been able to talk to you properly and it would be interesting to know how things are going for you. Send me a mail or (if you really need to) give me a call when you know. _

 

_ Hugs  _

_ Stefan _

 

‘Well, I’ve nothing planned for next weekend. As usual. It would be really nice to have  Stefan here, if only for a few days.’

She turned the card around and sure enough, there were a few bills taped there, just like her brother had written. She silently counted them and smiled.

‘Nothing extraordinary, but this should cover a couple of hours in an internet cafe to send a reply back and I'll still have money left for a decent meal.’

She detangled the bills from the postcard and put them on her nightstand for later.

 

‘I should probably start programming soon…’

Naomi chewed on her bottom lip. The reality of the task ahead suddenly hit her. She was familiar with programming, but she doubted her skills would be anywhere near enough to design a whole digital home.

‘God, have I actually bit off more than I can chew this time?’

Her biggest hope were her brother, who was really skilled with programming. He had programmed everything from new software to a few games during his studies. But if he were to help her, she would have to tell him about the vocaloids. Would he even believe her? What if the didn’t?

 

‘I’ll have to show him. Then he’ll believe me.’ Naomi thought, determined. ‘He has to believe me, I can’t do this completely on my own. For now, I’ll have to work on my own until he gets here. But one thing at a time. I’d better check in on Miku and the gang first. The rest can wait a couple of hours.’

She was just on her way to her still broken router when something caught her eye. On the fridge there were a old note with a recipe on it. It was a recipe of her favorite cupcakes that her mum had given her on her last birthday. Whilst she could honestly say that the recipe hadn’t become unused since she got it, she could honestly say that it hadn’t been used as much as she’d liked.

 

If she theoretically were to bake some and take them to the digital world, would Len, Miku and Rin be able to eat them? By now she knew that they could cry and that they could feel temperature and touch, but sadly none of that gave her any clue to whether or not they could actually eat any real food.

“I’m not an expert when it comes to comforting people, probably just the lack of experience. But I’ve a hard time imagining someone that wouldn’t feel just a little bit better after having some cupcakes!” Naomi said loudly to herself.

It was a naive and childish idea, but anything she could do to make them feel better about their current situation she would do. And if she was lucky she would actually have all the ingredients to make something really yummy.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------

20 minutes later the cupcakes were in the oven and Naomi’s whole kitchen were covered in cake batter (much due to her poor whisking skills). Now the baked goods were supposed to stay in the oven for about 30 minutes, which gave her a lot of time to clean up. 

 

But Naomi felt stressed and impatient. 

‘Miku surely thinks that I’ve abandoned them by now. It’s already 2 pm’ Naomi thought with her shoulders shamefully lowered.

 

’If there only were a way to make time pass by quicker’ she thought whilst doing the dishes. ‘Or better yet, quicker in this world and slower in the digital world’. Naomi was so lost in thought that she didn’t notice someone walking up behind her.

“Hello, what are you doing?” Miku’s voice suddenly asked right behind her.

“AHHH!” Naomi screamed loudly and dropped the dish brush into the sink, splashing water everywhere. A hand over her heart she turned to Miku.

“Please don’t EVER do that again. I thought I would have a heart attack” Naomi, voice breathless as the cause of adrenaline made her shaky. Miku simply cocked her head, a look of confusion on her face.

“What is a heart attack? I’ve never heard of those before.”

 

‘As she shouldn’t have. Since it’s not a disorder that vocaloids can get. Or can they?’ Naomi thought.

“A heart attack is a condition that can be fatal if not treated. And saying that someone gave you a heart attack is just a saying for when someone really frightens you”. Miku nodded.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you. I just came here to give this back” she said and held up Naomi’s stuffed teddybear that she’d stolen the night before. 

Naomi suddenly felt bad. Miku was so unselfish that she almost felt ashamed. She cleared her throat and said:

“No, you can keep it. I think that you guys need it more than I do” She could see how Miku’s eyes teared up. Oh boy, here we go again. Naomi fully expected Miku to start crying her eyes out all over again, but she didn’t. She simply wiped them away from the corners of her eyes and gave Naomi a genuine smile.

 

“I’m sorry. I’m still not used to how kind some people can be, even though you’re not the first.” Suddenly she stopped right in the middle of a movement and sniffed the air.

“Something here certainly smells good. You’re not wearing any perfume, are you?” she asked with an interested expression.

“Uhm, no… I was… It might sound really silly but I’m actually making cupcakes. I thought it may cheer you guys up. But I’m not sure if you’ll be able to eat them, I don’t know if you guys eat anything at- 

 

Miku stopped her babbling mid-sentence.  

“No no, it’s fine. It’s really kind of you. But we’ve never had the thing you call cupcakes before, are they good?” Naomi smiled.

“Yes, they’re amazing. You’ll see. But are you able to eat anything at all?”

“I have eaten some things in the past, but it’s mostly been limited to the leeks I get from fans” Miku said with a smile. Naomi made a face.

“Don’t they taste really strong? Raw leeks are known for being really strong, you know” Miku laughed and suddenly skipped away to Naomi’s bookshelf that stood in the far corner of the room. Something had caught her attention.

“You get used to it when it’s the only thing you really eat” she called over her shoulder. She enthusiastically started to browse through the pages of one of the books, but her smile fell in disappointment.

“What’s wrong?” Naomi asked as she walked up beside her, a look of worried concern on her face.

“I… I can’t read this. I can only read japanese. I was never taught to read english… Or whatever this is.”

 

‘Of course. No need to read when someone can simply tell you what you need to sing’ Naomi thought. ‘I wonder…’

“I could teach you, you know” she said, slightly uncertain. Miku’s eyes lit up with excitement.

“You would do that? Oh, thank you Naomi!” she said and hugged her. “I’m going to be eternally grateful!” Naomi laughed and took the book from Miku’s hands (a way too old and tattered copy of The lord of the Rings) and put it back in the bookshelf.

 

“Let’s start with something easier, shall we?” she said and pulled out an even older and dustier copy of a children’s book that she’d gotten from her dad on her third birthday. The book was perfect with beginners, with short sentences and colorful pictures to describe every scene of the book.

Miku frolicsome took the book from Naomi’s grasp and snagged up the teddy from the kitchen table on her way to the bed. She plopped down cross legged onto the bed with the teddy tightly snuggled against her chest and the book opened on the first page. Seeing her like this, she looked very much like a young child preparing for a parent to read to them before bedtime. Like this, it was hard to imagine that they were supposed to be the same age.

 

Naomi stalked over to the bed and sat down beside Miku, back against the wall. The first page contained the alphabet.

“Okay,the first thing we’re going to do is to practice the alphabet. When you can put individual letters together you will ten be able to put together words and thereafter whole sentences……”

 

They practiced for quite a while and Miku caught up rather quickly. It only took her a matter minutes to recite “A, B, C” They were just about to start with the rest when the egg timer rang, startling both Miku and Naomi. They both looked at each other and Naomi laughed lightheartedly.

“Well, it would seem like our cupcakes are ready!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not the greatest chapter, but contains a lot of information that will be important later. Thanks for reading and as usual I would love to hear your thoughts! :)


	5. The dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All three of the vocaloids show up at Naomi's doorstep (erhm... ugly yellow carpet) with some tragic news. Good thing Naomi has cupcakes and hugs for everyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the Emotional rollercoaster! Please keep all hands, feet and tears inside of the car until the end of the ride. Buckle in!

Once the cupcakes had been decorated with frosting it was now time for everyone to taste them. Miku had stuck around to help decorate one or two cupcakes but had quickly realized how long she’d been gone for. Not wanting to risk anything she’d headed before Naomi to The emptiness to “try something different” as she’d put it. Naomi never had a chance to know what this revolutionizing idea was, since she had disappeared before Naomi had the time to ask.

Now she stood in the kitchen, very unsure on what to do next. Should she wait for Miku to come fetch her or should she just simply go there on her own? On one hand she didn’t want to look too dependant on Miku but on the other she wasn’t sure if she was going to ruin whatever Miku (and possibly Len and Rin)  had in mind. It might be a surprise.

Or not. Now that she really thought about it, if Miku really hadn’t wanted her to follow she would had just said so.

‘I’m just being silly. I’m sure it’s nothing that big of a deal’ Naomi thought. She quickly put the remaining cupcakes on the plate and made her way over to the other corner of the room where her still damaged router was currently located. She was just about to reach down and put her hand on it when a loud snapping noise made her rear back and almost drop the plate to the ground.

She quickly looked around for the source of the sound which turned out to be none other than her three favourite vocaloids, all bunched together on her carpet. Miku was on her knees, steadying her head with both hands, as if she felt dizzy. Len was in a similar pose, the biggest difference was him laying down instead of sitting. Rin however didn’t even look to be conscious at the moment, head slumped against her mirror image’s shoulder, eyes closed.

‘It must be the first time she’s traveling to the real world’ Naomi thought, recalling the first time she had traveled to the digital world and how she’d been passed out, much like Rin was now.

It didn’t take Len or Miku too many minutes to recover, Miku being the first to do so.

“Don’t think I’m ever going to get fully used to that” Miku said whilst smoothing out her hair. She hadn’t noticed Naomi standing a few decimeters behind her.

“Or what do you say, Len?”

“Please, give me a minute. The room is still spinning” Len answered, a hand over his eyes. Miku didn’t answer him. Instead she looked around and quickly spotted Naomi standing in the corner, still holding the plate with cupcakes and looking like a fool.

“Oh, hello Naomi. I hope we didn’t come at a bad time” Miku said in a monotone voice. Naomi just blinked. This was not the playful, innocent Miku she had gotten to know. She opened her mouth to reply, but closed it again, like a fish out of water.

‘God I must look like an idiot’ she thought. ‘Just answer her, quickly!’

“No no, it’s- it’s fine really. Um.. I was just about to head over to you actually” she said while gesturing towards the plate of cupcakes. Miku just nodded, head lowered and fingers nervously fiddling together. She took a deep breath.

“We found out some bad news whilst you were gone. I... A friend of ours” She exchanged a look with Len.

”Her name is Gumi.” Len continued. 

“She tried to delete herself today, but they just put up a stronger fire wall so-” Miku suddenly rushed up and hugged Naomi tightly. Naomi was so unprepared that she almost dropped the plate for the second time.

“Naomi, we’re scared. We don’t want to disappear, but when even that freedom is taken away from you, what do we have left?” Miku was crying now, hot and heavy tears landing on Naomi’s bare shoulder. Naomi did her best to comfort her, even though her hug was quite clumsy since she could only use one hand.

“It’s going to be okay Miku. I will help you, I promise. It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay….” She kept repeating those words in a quiet, comforting voice whilst hugging her tightly. They probably stood there for several minutes, Miku sobbing quietly and Naomi comforting her. Once, Naomi looked over Miku’s shoulder at Len. He too was crying, though as silently as possible, whilst cradling Rin’s still unconscious body close in a hug.

 

"If this don’t ease up soon I might as well start crying too’ Naomi thought. She could already feel the tears burning behind her eyelids, wanting to come out. She tried to hold them back, but even the strongest willpower could not have stopped that one single tear to slide down her cheek. One tear, nothing less and nothing more.

  
  


\------------------------------------------------------

After what seemed like a lesser eternity the last sobs in the room died out, all replaced with heavy breaths as all three of them tried to steady themselves. Miku was the first one to break the silence.

“Naomi?” she asked without lifting her head from Naomi’s shoulder.

“Mhm?

“Could we have those cupcakes now....?”

Naomi smiled widely.

“If I could have both of my arms back…” Miku quickly detangled herself from Naomi’s now loose grip.

“Sorry… I just got… tangled up” They both looked at each other and giggled quietly. Miku then looked at her with a serious expression.

“We honestly can’t thank you enough Naomi. What you are willing to do for us… Thank you” Another quick hug.

 

“I agree with her” Len said from behind them. They both turned around to look at him. Sometime during their talk he had stood up and put Rin’s body on the bed.

“Does anyone of you know how long it take before she wakes up?” Miku made a thinking-face.

“Naomi was out cold for around… an hour I think?” (Naomi’s eyes widened, had she really been unconscious that long the first time they met? Wow).

“So… another 40 minutes or so. Awesome. I certainly know what I’m going to do with that time” Len said and bluntly walked up and took the plate from Naomi before unceremoniously shoving the nearest cupcake into his mouth.

“Aww Len! That’s not very well behaved!” Miku said and took the plate away from him.”I’m terribly sorry on his behalf, Naomi!”

“I’m sure she doesn't mind it. I gotta take my chances you know. Kaito always eats all the ice cream backstage. Never anything left for me!” Len pouted and made a small pause. “You  _ don’t  _ mind, do you?” He asked with his gaze raised against Naomi who was just about to help herself to her first cupcake.

“Wha-? No, no, no it’s fine. I made them for you. Help yourself, please.” She was just about to take her first bite when she stopped herself for the second time.

 

“Wait, Kaito? What is he like?” 

“Oh, he’s like a big teddy bear! You just want to hug him!” Miku exclaimed with a big hugging gesture.

“Jokes aside, he’s like a big brother to all of us. He takes care of us. And Meiko takes care of him, of course” Len continued.

 

They continued to talk like this for a long while, whilst eating the cupcakes (and saving some for Rin, of course), Naomi asking questions about their life on stage and the two vocaloids asking questions about Naomi’s everyday (to her) boring life. Miku told her about her first ever live concert (loud and a bit scary as she described it) and she in turn told them about what insurance meant (“Man, I really hope we’re insured” Len had said).

But they soon reached a point where all three of them felt fed up on cupcakes and stories. Len didn’t even seem to have the energy to sit up anymore but simply laid in a puddle on the floor. Miku soon joined him and Naomi followed suit.

 

“I feel like when I’ve done way too much dancing during a concert...But kind of the other way around…” Miku said. Naomi understood what she meant. She too felt utterly stuffed after eating that many cupcakes at once. She was sure that she’d eaten nine or ten. At least. But poor Len had eaten at least the double and now he looked nearly green in the face.

“I feel really weird…” he admitted. “It’s like… a tornado in my stomach” Miku giggled. Naomi simply smiled, not wanting to be disrespectful.

“I think you’re just feeling a bit sick. It happens when you eat too much at once” Len simply snorted as an answer. He clearly did not believe that. It sounded like he was about to say something when a low, smooth voice was heard from the bed.

 

“I had a dream…” It was Rin. Everyone turned their heads towards her.

“It was a wonderful dream… I saw grass. I walked upon it. It was so soft…” She took a deep breath. Her eyes were wide when she retold her dream. “I saw the sky. Miku, it has the same color as your hair! And the wind. It felt refreshing. It smelled so sweet…” Rin gave a deep sigh.

“But it was just a dream....” she said with sad eyes. Naomi shuffled a little closer to the bed and took Rin’s hand that hung out over the edge of the bed. They made eye contact.

 

“Soon, Rin, that dream will become reality” Naomi told her with a reassuring smile. And for the first time in weeks, Rin returned the smile.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there we have it, chapter five. It was originally two chapters but since it would've been two very short chapters it became two. Enjoy (I hope that I didn't make Len too snarky x) )


	6. Make up for the promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naomi finally makes up for her promise an starts working on the new home for the vocaloids as well as giving her brother a reply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter will focus a bit more on Naomi and her thoughts and feelings.

Miku, Rin and Len had left, leaving only a few strands of their colorful hair behind. Rin had been reluctant to go back, to say the least. She had been screaming and crying that she would do anything as long as she didn’t have to go back to that awful place. It had taken the combined forces of both Len and Miku to half carry, half drag her over to the router. All their patient explanation about how she’d be erased if she stayed away too long fell upon deaf ears and not even cupcakes had seemed to cheer her up.

Now that they were gone, the apartment felt eerily quiet. So eerie that Naomi quickly decided that she did not want to be there any longer. It was already 4 pm and nearly dark outside, but seeing Rin’s utter distress over having to go back had given her the spur of motivation she needed to finally make up for her promise.

 

The freshly fallen snow crunched underneath her feet as she closed the door leading to the stairwell. It was really cold outside today, her breath steaming around her as she walked. The nearest internet cafe was far away from where she lived. She thought about taking the bus, but quickly scratched that idea since she was unsure on both their time schedule and how much it would cost and decided to walk. Better hold on to her money for later. 

She had just passed the town square when she spotted a group of teenagers that looked to be around her age, some perhaps a bit older. Almost all of them had a cigarette in hand, all of them talking loudly to each other. Well, all except one guy that seemed to be so intoxicated that he was throwing up inside of the trash bin beside the bench where most of the group were currently sitting.

 

‘Ugh, the group I never want to end up like.” Naomi thought. If she ever got any real friends she sure as hell would prefer quality over quantity any day.

 

‘What is the point of having ten friends if you never really get to know them? I think I’d rather be alone…’

 

Even though she despised them, she couldn’t help but feel a slight pang of jealousy in her chest. Even though she didn’t mind being alone most of the time, there were still a small voice inside of her that yearned for a way out of this solitude. Even if breaking this solitude meant hanging out with people that would never open up to her. But then another, stronger voice whispered;

‘But you’re not alone. You have Miku, Rin and Len.’ The voice made her smile, but the smile quickly fell again when she reminded herself that none of them were even real in the sense that people were used to. It was not like she could invite any of them to the next family dinner, in case they got obliterated from being outside of the internet for too long.

‘It’s almost a little sad. The first friends I’ve made in ages can’t even do normal things friends do together with me.’ The thought made her equal parts frustrated and sad. She was so lost in her own thoughts that the call from behind felt like a bucket of ice water over her head.

 

“Hey! Aubergine! What would you be willing to do for sixty bucks?!” A male voice called out behind her. The quite obvious cat call was followed by cheers and whistles from the callers friends. Naomi immediately sped up, the atmosphere had turned uneasy really quickly.

 

“Hey! I’m talking to you!” 

 

Naomi sped up even more. It had become a difficult balance of getting away from there as quickly as possible whilst not showing the group that she was afraid. But when she heard footsteps quickly approaching from behind she couldn’t take it anymore and started to run. 

The ground was slippery with ice and snow. One wrong move could had her landing face first in the nearest patch of snow. Thankfully, luck seemed to be on her side today. Whilst it was slippery and difficult to run, she didn't fall even once. Unlike her chasers behind her who didn’t get very far before falling over each other, based on the groaning sounds from behind her.

Still, she didn’t stop or even slow down. She ran past the square, past the pharmacy on the corner of the street and over the bridge leading to the southern parts of town. She ran until she could hear the air in her lungs howl.

 

Only when the adrenaline had worn of and her legs refused to move any more she finally stopped. Utterly out of breath and tired to the bone she took a moment to recover, hands on her knees, just trying to get her breathing back to normal. Man, she hadn’t run like that since childhood. Only then, the monsters had been a creation of her fantasy.

When she had catched her breath she realized that she were closer to the internet cafe than she initially had thought. It was no more than a few blocks from here.

‘I should start running more often. Just that run have cut the time by almost thirty minutes.’ Naomi looked around at the quiet street. Almost no shops or cafes were open by now, seeing it was a sunday. The street lay empty.

‘Though, It would be easier if I didn’t have to get chased by creepy teens to get the  motivation to do so.’ She thought as she continued walking, letting the snowfall and street lights guide her way.

 

\-----------------------------------------

The doorbell clanged as se entered. The warm reception room were a welcome change from the freezing temperatures outdoors. She rubbed her hands together in an effort to make them less stiff and clumsy as she looked around.

The reception itself was quite small. If she reached out her hands she was pretty sure that she would be able to touch her fingertips to both opposite walls. The walls were a sickly grey color and the poor person sitting behind the cramped reception desk appeared to be a boy her age, playing a game on his phone. She cleared her throat to alert him of her presence.

 

“Yes, I heard you whe you came in. Tell me how many hours you want to stay and I’ll give you the price. Simple as that.” The guy didn’t even look up from his phone whilst he spoke. Naomi felt that it was quite a rude thing to do.

 

“Uhm, yes. Two hours please.”

“That will be 230.” The guy said, handing her a note with the wifi password and taking the bills that Naomi put on the counter, not looking up from his phone even once.” She took the note from the counter.

‘This has to be the most elaborate wifi password I’ve ever seen’ she thought, looking at the sixteen digit password of both letters and numbers and some squiggles that she sure as hell had never typed on a keyboard before.

“It’s just through that door over there. You can’t miss it.” Naomi nodded (even though she was quite sure that he couldn’t see it) and was just about to turn around for the door when he spoke again.

“I would recommend the computers in the back room. There are a group of people having a LAN just on the other side of the door, they’re quite loud.” This time, he actually looked up when he spoke. Naomi gave him a stiff, but thankful smile before proceeding through the door.

 

\------------------------------------------

The receptionist had been right, of course. Thankfully, the smaller room in the back was almost completely deserted, save for a few university students doing some last-minute studying before tomorrow.

After fighting with the complicated wifi password for more than ten minutes she finally connected to the internet and opened her mailbox to send a reply to her dear brother.

 

_ Hello, big brother. _

_ Thank you for the mail, It always makes me happy to hear from you. Life’s been okay, I guess. Nothing out of the ordinary  Lots of homework, as usual. Thankfully I managed to finish this weeks work quite early but since my router unfortunately decided to die I’ve had very little to do. You wouldn’t mind bringing your own when you come to visit this weekend? I’m not sure when it will get fixed, that’s why I’m asking. _

 

_Also, I would like some help with programming some stuff, would you mind helping me with that?_ _It’s not easy when your internet is down, but even if I had it you’re the most talented programmer out of the two of us (I have to admit)._ _Maybe you can look at it as a really early birthday present? I would be eternally grateful if you helped me. :)_

 

_ Thank you for the money, it was well needed. See you in a couple of days! _

 

_ Hugs _

_ Naomi _

 

She quickly read through it before pressing ‘Send’. She felt a small sting of guilt over the white lies she told him, but it was probably for the best to wait until he got here before telling him about her new friends. She didn’t want him to think that she was crazy and the easiest way to convince him (like with most people) was simply to shove the truth up his face. It would be a lot harder for him to not believe her if she showed him Miku and company in their own flesh and blood.

‘Better to take the safe before the unsafe…’

Now that that was done, she made sure to attend to the other tasks at hand. When she found her mailbox mostly empty (save for a few, irritating advertisement mails that she quickly put in her trash bin with an irritated sigh) she opened the computer's browser and began searching for free patterns and designs that could be used in the future vocaloid-home.

 

Programming the house and everything around it was not her strongest ability. Deciding how the final product should look like, that however, that she could do. None of the three vocaloids had said anything specific about how they had wanted their new home to look, so Naomi downloaded a bit of each. Everything from dark and gothic themed patterns to cute and bright designs in all the colors of the rainbow. When she’d saved them down on to the computer she made sure to mail them to herself before deleting them from the computer files.

‘I’m not paranoid, but I rather not have people snooping around in my work’ Naomi thought as she deleted yet another file.

And so this repetitive cycle carries on - download, mail, delete. Download, mail, delete. Download, mail, delete. At one point Naomi deeply regretted not owning an USB-drive, it would’ve made this work so much easier. By that time she had been working on the same repetitive task for so long that she nearly started crying out of mental exhaustion.

 

Just then she finally got the brilliant idea of looking at the computer clock. It took a moment for her eyes to focus properly, and once they did her heart nearly jumped out of her chest.

‘God, it’s 9:30 already?! I’ve been here almost two hours longer than I paid for!’ She swiftly pulled out the last of her cash and counted them. She had just enough to pay for her overtime, but not much else. She chewed on her lower lip.

‘Be honest and pay up or pretend like I’ve done nothing wrong?’ She thought it trough for a moment and decided to try to sneak away and come back and pay later, when she had more money. She was just about to stand up from the squeaky chair when she realized that Miku, Rin and Len probably had no idea that she was going to be at school all day tomorrow. Since it was getting quite late she didn’t want to disturb them or stay up too late in order to tell them.

 

‘How should I tell them?’ She spotted an old and dusty printer in the corner of the room and got an idea. Getting up she grabbed a sheet of paper from the printer as well as a left behind pen and pulled up google translate on the computer screen and began typing.

 

_ Hello, Naomi here. I just wanted to tell you guys that I will be in school pretty much all day tomorrow, I will be home by 5 or 6 pm. There is some food in the kitchen, take some if you want (just save enough for me). _

 

The translator translated what she wanted the letter to say and she wrote it down with as much precision as she could whilst crossing her fingers that it would be understandable. She double checked it one last time before folding the paper closed and putting it in her pocket.

Once she’d gathered all of her things she made her way to the larger computer hall and from there to reception room. The loud group was still playing their game, shouting tactical requests and swearing every once in a while.

Opening the door she found the guy from earlier still sitting and playing his phone game. Shoot. Would she still be able to sneak by?

She was just about to grab the door handle to the door leading to her freedom when she heard a voice call on her from behind. Busted.

 

“You stayed longer than you paid for, you know.” Naomi turned around to face him, stuttering as she tried to come up with an apology.

 

“I...I didn’t mean to… It’s just-I… I lost track of time. I didn’t mean to stay for long. Please I promise you I will come back and pay. Just not- not today.” She had started her sentence in a low voice, but at the end of the sentence she was nearly yelling. The guy looked at her with an calculating look, like he was undecided on whether or not to believe her. After a while, he spoke up.

 

“Okay. I believe you. Just know that we will notify the police if you don’t pay within one weeks time. I will need your phone number as well. Is that clear?” 

 

Naomi simply nodded and walked over to the reception desk where she took the pen she received and quickly scrambled down her phone number before handing it to him. He inspected it quietly before giving her a nod of approval. She could go.

 

\-----------------------------------

Finally at home, Naomi almost thore off her clothes, tossing them on to the floor. She was so mentally exhausted, she just wanted to sleep. But first, she needed to eat something. She hadn’t had anything proper to eat the whole day (save for some coffee when she woke up and all the cupcakes from earlier) and the sharp blood sugar drop from all the sugar did nothing to her already drowsy state.

Looking through her mostly empty fridge she found a lunch box containing some stir fried noodles with vegetables. That would have to do.

After microwaving and eating the small meal mostly in silence she put the dishes in the sink (‘I’ll do them tomorrow’, she promised herself) and got ready for bed. After her usual night routine she put the note she had written on the kitchen table for them to see tomorrow and then went straight to bed. After setting her alarm for tomorrow she finally put a dot on this day and went to sleep.

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not the greatest chapter, I'm certainly not 100% proud with it. But I've re-written it so many times that I'll probably will go mad if I do it again. It is possible that it will get edited in the future, in that case I will of course tell you so you can go back and read about eventual changes.
> 
> Anyway, I'm going away for a few days which means that the next chapter will be delayed a couple of days. In the meantime, I have a game for those who are willing to play. Whilst it isn't told which country this story takes place in there are quite a bit of clues scattered through the chapters. If you can figure it out, I'll be willing to do a vocaloid story on request (which I still can do, it's just a bit hard to come up with someting fitting). Good luck!


	7. School, blood and a better future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naomi goes to school and comes home to find a rather unpleasant sight in her apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up! This is the darkest chapter so far. I would rate this chapter an M.
> 
> This chapter contains the following trigger warnings:
> 
> *Aftermath of selfharm/selfharm

The annoying shriek of her alarm was what woke her up the following morning, slashing her abruptly from her land of dreams. Without opening her eyes she mindlessly fumbled around with her right hand i an attempt to turn off the sound of air horns right next to her ear. Finally her fingers made contact with the smooth, cool surface and she delighted in the pleasant silence that followed. Staying in bed had never felt so alluring, but Naomi knew from experience that if she didn’t get up now she may never do so.

Her eyelids felt as heavy as lead as she cracked them open. The dimly lit room looked the same as always. save for the turquoise and yellow strands left on her cover and carpet by the three vocaloids. Miku in particular seemed to leave unnaturally much hair behind, long strands hanging of the edge of her bed.

 

Miku. Simply thinking about her made her realize how much she missed her. She missed all of them, even though they had seen each other less than 24 hours ago. 

‘When was the last time I missed someone, well and truly?’ The last time she remembered missing someone like she did now was when her family had moved away. Her mum had gotten an offer of better paying job and without any doubt she had taken it. Both of her parents had moved away, taking her younger brother with them and leaving Naomi and Stefan behind to finish their studies.

At first, everything had worked out well. She and Stefan had shared an apartment close to the school that they both attended and had gotten a small share of money from their parents to be able to pay for rent and food. Naomi had been a lone wolf all the way back then, but at least she had had Stefan.

That was, until he graduated and was accepted into an university in another town. She knew that day would come sooner or later, seeing he was a few years older than her and there was no local university in this town, but it still had broken her heart. She had been angry often and sad even more often. Angry at fate that had taken her family away from her and sad that she was (and still is) unable to do anything about it. She couldn’t change schools in the middle of a semester, no less in the middle of her education. But as time passed by she had learned to more or less accept her situation whilst still hoping for a better future.

 

‘Once I graduate I’ll move away from this ghost town. Attend the same university as Stefan. And hopefully get a decent job sometime in the future.’ Naomi thought as she got dressed. She pushed away the anxious thoughts about how difficult it was to get in to the high-ranking university Stefan was attending and clung tightly to her new-found speck of hope as she set her coffee machine to brew two (erhm...three) cups of extra strong coffee.

Then there was breakfast. Naomi had never really had any appetite in the morning, it usually took her a few hours to get hungry after waking up. But if she didn’t eat anything now she’d regret it later. Sitting in the middle of a class of two hours maths with a growling stomach was certainly no fun (another thing she knew from experience). But to be fair, most foods made her feel sick if she ingested them before she had woken up properly, so she usually stuck to very light foods, yoghurt and some sort of fruit as her favorite dish. It would more often than not be frozen and then thawed seeing how that was a lot cheaper than fresh fruit and today was no exception.

A bowl of yoghurt with lots of frozen blueberries and coffee.

 

‘A breakfast fit for royalty’ Naomi thought as she stopped to have a few spoonfuls or a sip of coffee between running around and gathering her things as well as brushing her hair and searching for her wallet. She had always thought of herself as an organized person, but for every weekday morning that passed she became more and more doubtful of that statement.

Just after she’d established that her wallet probably wasn’t underneath her desk she heard a snapping noise from the location of her router. It sounded like a carrot snapping and it was enough of a surprise to make her hit her head on the underside of the desk.

 

‘These vocaloids will be the death of me’ she thought as she rubbed the back of her now sore head.

“Friend or foe?! Answer quickly before I slice you to pieces” she called out in a mockingly threatening voice as she turned around to face the unexpected guest. Who appeared to be none other than Len and Rin Kagamine.

 

“Depends. Do you have any bananas? We’ll get along better if you have bananas.” Len

answered from the other side of the room.

“You’ll have to excuse me, I have no luxuries to do those kinds of purchases. Thee will have do settle with frozen blueberries.” Naomi called back in a half-haughty voice as she rose up from her sitting position by the desk and continued to search for her wallet, feeling more and more stressed out. She wanted nothing more than to run up to the two mirror images and hug them and then hang around to talk all day, but she was in a hurry. Her bus was to leave in about ten minutes. If she missed that one she’d surely be late for school.

 

“Are you leaving?” Rin asked in a small voice. She sounded so sad that Naomi stopped everything in her tracks and walked over to give her a big hug. With Rin now sitting on her bed she had to kneel down in order to do it properly.

“I’m sorry. I have to go to school and I’ll be gone all day. But I’ll be back later tonight, ok?”

 

‘God, I’m starting to feel like a parent’ Naomi thought.

“Okay… Can you bring an orange back? I… I like oranges” Rin’s voice was barely above a whisper. Naomi smiled warmly at her.

“I’ll see what I can do”. She gave Rin one last, quick hug and quickly stood up to resume her wallet-search. She spun around and almost collided with Len’s chest as he had stood right behind her the whole time.

“You lookin’ for this?” He asked and held up her black and white striped wallet for her to see. She took it from his hand with a grateful smile before swiftly realizing something.

 

“Hey, where’s Miku?” she asked as she looked around, almost expecting her to be hiding and jumpscare her at any second, much like she’d done last time.

“Oh, she got pulled in to do some recording early this morning. I suspect that she’ll be back later this afternoon or evening. It usually takes quite a few hours to get the song just right.” Len lowered his voice to a whisper as to not let Rin hear what he was about to say next.

“Just so you know, Miku’s always the worst right after a recording. She’s never satisfied with her effort and… She does not take it well.”

"What do you mean?” Naomi had lowered her voice as well.

“I don’t know how to describe it. You’ll see. I just don’t want it to come as a shock for you later today.” His eyes darted anxiously across the room.

“Okay. Thanks for telling me.” She said, now in a normal tone as she grabbed her school bag and phone from her nightstand on her way to the door. She turned around one last time before leaving, waving to the two vocaloids.

 

“See you later guys!” she said in a cheery tone before running down the stairs and out on the street. She ran as fast as she could. She couldn’t for everything in this world miss the bus.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She had made it just in time. Her breath was heavy as she searched for a spot on the already crowded public transport. Seeing that nearly all the seats already had been taken she decided to simply stand up and save the remaining seats for someone else.

Still trying to catch her breath she thought about what Len had said about Miku. She wasn’t sure what he’d meant, but she hoped that it wouldn’t be as bad as he seemed it to be.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another school day passed by just as it usually did. She eagerly answered the teacher’s questions during biology and english class, but shrunk away and tried to make herself invisible at the back of the classroom during maths. She sat alone during lunchtime and spent  lunch break in library, reading and drawing chibi characters before heading to the next class. She was moderate during PE and as usual, very glad when the day finally was over and looked forward to her nap on the bus home.

Before hopping on the bus she made sure to buy an orange from the local store to give to Rin later. Her heart warmed as she thought about how happy Rin would be when she gave it to her.

 

‘Coming home will certainly be nice…’ She thought with a tired yawn.

If only she’d known then…

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She unlocked the door and stepped into the now dark and gloomy apartment. She fumbled blindly with her hand against the wall before she found the light-switch and turned it on.

The sight that met her made her freeze right in her tracks. Paint… No…

 

Fresh blood laid splattered across the floor and soaked through the yellow carpet, making it look like a grotesque artwork of blood and dust. Naomi swallowed thickly but was unable to get rid of the lump in her throat. Small but frequent droplets of blood made a polka dot road away from her bed. She silently followed it with her gaze across the room, through the kitchen and stopping just outside of her bathroom door, which was closed.

As quietly as she possibly could she sneaked across the bloody path and carefully pulled the bathroom door handle down. She was so afraid that she was shaking by now, adrenaline coursing through her veins.

 

‘God, if I get more afraid I’ll vomit’ Naomi thought with her head spinning. She decided to do it quickly, like ripping off a band -aid and so she pushed the door wide open.

The sight that met her was enough to make her heart leap up into her throat. Because on the floor was no other than Miku, her 01 tattoo now completely scratched up and the red numbers illegible from the blood that dripped from it. Miku herself seemed to have zoned out, her expression unreadable and blank at the same time.

 

Naomi stood frozen for a few seconds, unsure on what to do. Then it was like her body went on auto-pilot. After scanning the scene and concluding that there was no sharp objects nearby as well as noting the blood underneath Miku’s fingernails she concluded that she must’ve used her nails to scratch herself.

Swiftly putting the lights on and getting the first-aid kit as well as a bunch of paper towels from the cabinet underneath the sink she began to carefully wipe away the blood from Miku’s upper arm. She needed to take care of the injury at hand first, Miku’s mental state would have to wait a few minutes. Naomi was determined to not let her bleed to death here in her bathroom.

The wound was deep, but thankfully it wasn’t bleeding as much now, the blood had started to form clots. She would still need to disinfect it though, as to avoid an infection. Opening the first-aid kit and pouring a small amount of disinfectant on a cotton pad she bagan the gruesome task of cleaning up the wound. Naomi had never been good with blood and now she had to force herself to not look away from the task. Every once in a while she looked up at Miku, but aside from a few pained whimpers she still seemed unmoved by the whole situation.

Satisfied with the clean-up she went on to something to help keep the bleeding at bay. She knew that ordinary band-aids would get soaked through almost immediately so she opted to use a compress instead. Gently placing the compress and spinning it a few times around she finally attached the end of the compress with a safety pin. She tugged lightly at it in just to make sure that it didn’t slip off before sitting back on her heels.

Thankfully, Miku did not seem to have any more severe injuries anywhere on her body. What Naomi was really worried about right now was Miku’s mental state. She took a deep breath in preparation.

 

“Miku. Miku! It’s me, Naomi. Can you hear me? Please answer!” She lightly shook Miku’s shoulders and somehow that seemed to make her snap out of her trance.She looked right at Naomi with wide eyes. Then at the first-aid kit. And then at the blood on the floor. And then back at Naomi, her eyes watery.

 

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to come here and… I-I didn’t mean to- Oh Naomi, I’m so sorry. I’ll leave immi-” 

Naomi interrupted her.

“You will do no such thing. You have done nothing wrong, Miku and I don’t blame you for any of this. This is what we’ll do. I’m going to make some tea for the both of us and you’ll be able to talk freely about the thoughts and emotions you’ve held locked away for far too long, no stress. Does that sound okay?”

 

It looked like Miku was about to protest but she quickly shut her mouth and nodded slowly, eyes downcast. She made an effort to stand up, but her legs did not seem like they wanted to follow her command and she stumbled down again. Naomi hadn’t realized it before, but poor Miku was trembling like an aspen leaf. Naomi reached down and took her hand.

 

“Can you stand?”

 

“I’m trying. B-but it’s like I can’t feel my legs.” Miku still had her eyes downcast in shame as she spoke.

 

“Well, only one thing to do.” Naomi quickly reached down and scooped Miku up, bridal style. Miku was so unprepared by this that she gave a small gasp of shock, hands locked tightly and convulsively around Naomi’s neck, almost choking her.

Naomi had expected Miku to be heavier than she actually was (not that she was complaining since it made her easier to carry) but quickly erased the thought from her mind. It was not important right now. What was important was to make sure that Miku was okay.

She carried her with long strides out of the bathroom and zick-zacked between droplets of now oxidized blood before quite clumsily dropping her on the bed.

After making sure that she was comfortable Naomi filled one of her two saucepans with water and put it on the stove in order to bring it to a boil (she owned no kettle). She also gathered a small variety of teabag and put them on the kitchen table together a package of milk and a small sugar basin.

 

When that was done she wet a cloth under the tap and swiftly wiped away the blood stains on the floor before putting the now even uglier bloodstained mat in the laundry basket.

Whilst she worked, Miku did not utter a single dyssable, choosing instead to observe quietly. Naomi threw her a glance every few seconds, just to make sure that she was still okay.

 

‘Geez, I’ve never seen anyone so amazed at me doing chores before’ Naomi thought with a sidelong smile as she wiped away the last blood that had soaked through the carpet.

She had just finished when she heard that the water had begun to boil. Scooting away to the kitchen she put two tea cups on the kitchen counter (the ones with blue roses that she’d inherited from her grandmother) before pouring the scolding water over the teabags that she’d added earlier.

"Do you like your tea with milk or without?” she asked Miku across the room. Miku, who’d been lost in thought stammered slightly when she answered.

“I-I-I’m not sure. With I suppose. I don’t usually drink tea.” Respectful of her request, Naomi only poured in a small amount of milk, in case she didn’t like it very much. She put the two cups on a tray and brought them over to bed.

 

“I usually don’t eat or drink anything in bed, but we can look at this as a special occasion.” Naomi told Miku as she placed the tray between them on the bed. Miku just nodded and Naomi decided that she would not take her first sip until Miku had done so.

Miku hesitantly picked up the teacup and gave it a cool blow before taking the first sip. Almost immediately a small smile graced her features. She turned to Naomi.

“It tastes really good. Soothing, in a way.” Naomi gave her a smile in reply. Miku took another sip before putting it down on the tray again.

“I guess I should probably start to tell you everything, from the beginning.” Miku said with a small sigh. Naomi said nothing, only giving her a small, but encouraging, nod. Barely noticeable. Miku took a deep breath before speaking.

 

“When I was born - more than ten years ago - it was magical. Everyone was amazed by my talent and I often had a lot of work to do since many people were curious about how it would sound when I sang. I was of course quite lonely when I had nothing to do, so I was glad when Rin and Len were born. They may say that “Green is the enemy” but they don’t really mean it. We love each other as brothers and sisters all three of us.” Miku picked up the cup and took another sip of tea.

“But recently… It’s been different. When I’ve made mistakes in my singing before I’ve simply put it behind me. But now-” Miku shook her head, making her turquoise hair dance all around her head. “Now I’m never satisfied. No matter how perfect a recording or concert went… It’s never enough. I’m chasing the impossible. The impossible ‘perfect’ that we all dream of but know that we’ll never achieve.” Another sip of tea. A sigh.

 

“But I don’t even know if I should talk about what happens when something goes really wrong. You’ve seen it for yourself. The recording today was awful. No, it was a disaster.” Miku’s voice broke at the end of the sentence and a few tears slid down her cheeks. She quickly wiped them away and continued.

“The guy that was programming me was really talented, but he couldn’t get my tuning to sound right. I sounded wrong no matter what. Too low, to squeaky - you name it. We both worked on it the whole day, he becoming more and more frustrated and me becoming more and more desperate. It ended with him closing down the program, saying it had been a stupid idea to even try.” Miku’s voice broke once more and more tears erupted from her eyes.

Naomi, who’d only been listening to this point, took control over the situation. She put the tray with the two teacups on it on her nightstand and moved in for a hug.

Miku practically threw herself into Naomi’s arms, hugging her tightly as if she was afraid that she’d disappear if she held on too lightly. Naomi had expected a lot more tears recalling the other two times when Miku had cried, but for the exception of a few snivels there weren’t a lot of tears to talk about this time.

Naomi hugged her back and held onto her for a long time, most likely several minutes, before speaking up.

 

“You’re not worthless Miku.” Miku looked up, eyes as big as saucers.

“You really think so?” she said as she wiped away a few more tears.

“I know so. Everyone makes mistakes, some bigger than others. But I try to see mistakes as one wrong move closer to making something right. Just imagine, if no one made mistakes we would never learn anything, right?”

“I guess so….” Miku said as she’d thought it over.

“And you know how different voices are good for different songs?”

“Yes…?”

“Perhaps the song the songmaker tried to make you sing just wasn’t right for your kind of voice?” Miku went quiet for just a moment.

“I’ve never actually thought about that. But I’m not sure if it makes me feel better or worse, honestly.” she said in a sad tone.

“Oh, don’t be like that. You still have tons of songs that you could sing. All of them beautiful and spectacular!” Naomi said with a wide smile. Miku sniveled in an effort to get rid of the last of her tears.

“I guess you’re right.” She looked up at Naomi. “Thank you Naomi. I didn’t know I could feel this much relief simply by telling someone how I’ve felt.”

 

Naomi nodded. Had she known how Miku truly felt she would have done this a long time ago and she regretted deeply not asking her about the scratch marks the first time they’d met. The next question Miku asked her hit her very unexpectedly.

“Naomi, do  _ you  _ have anything that you want to talk about? Any problems you need to ease of your chest?”

“Well… Yes. I actually thought about something this morning. I’ve been feeling quite lonely lately. I have no friends except for you guys and most of my family lives across the country. I’ve not seen either my mother, father or younger brother in over a year.”

 

Naomi made a pause in order to once again retrieve the tray and hand the second tea cup to Miku before taking a big slurp herself.

“But you’re not completely alone, you have us!” Miku said in her now cheerful, everyday tone.

“I know, and I’m eternally grateful for that. But it’s not like you three are the everyday teens you find around the block. Don’t get me wrong, I love to hang out with you guys, but we’ll never be able to have a completely normal, friendly relationship anytime soon. I mean, it’s not like we could go to the movies. You’d get recognized too easily, or worse, erased.”

Miku nodded.

“I understand how you feel. It may not be perfect and it will never be, but at least we have each other, right?” Naomi smiled.

 

“I guess you’re right.” She laughed. “You know what, screw it! I don’t care if you three aren’t normal friends in the slightest. You’re still the best people I’ve met in years.” Miku returned her smile and moved in for another hug which Naomi happily returned. Miku was the first to break the silence.

“Do you feel any better now?”

“Yes, thank you Miku. Do you?”

“Yes, thank you. Though, I’m quite tired and my arm is sore. Would you mind me sleeping here?” Naomi gave her a sideways smile.

 

“I wouldn’t mind it at all. I don’t know how long you can stay though… I don’t want anything bad happening to you.” Miku just giggled and waved it off.

“I think I’ll be fine. Rin and Len stayed here for eight hours while you were gone at school and they were completely fine.”

“Say what?!” Miku laughed once more at Naomi’s reaction.

“Yes… You might want to check the fridge, in case they left anything. Both of them tend to eat like vacuums when they get  hungry. They also commented that your japanese was horrible.”

“What did it say?” Naomi did not really look forward to the answer. Miku cleared her throat and put on her best theatrical voice.

 

“Hi there, Naomi here. Jesus just wanted to tell you shotas that the book from yesterday will be in school all day, the puppy will die at 5 or 6 pm. There is some aliens in the kitchen, eat off of it if you get hungry, just save enough for me.”

 

Naomi laughed together with Miku until her stomach started to cramp and happy-tears were sliding down her cheeks. It took a while for both of them to catch their breaths.

“That was absolutely hilarious. You’ll have to excuse me, I was using google translate. It’s not very reliable. Thank god I met the two of them earlier this morning, I’d not be able to live with myself if that was the only information they’d gotten.”

Miku yawned and stretched her arms.

“Yes, you were quite lucky.” Another yawn.

“If you’re really that tired I think you should sleep. You can use my bed if you want to.”

 

“Just what I’ve been waiting for you to say!” Miku quickly downed the rest of her tea in one big gulp before skipping away to place the now empty cup in the sink (that Naomi now realized still had dirty dishes in in *internal groan*). Naomi did the same thing with her cup and also put the tray away. By the time she was finished Miku had already snuggled up among her pillows underneath the duvet. She appeared though, to not have fallen asleep just yet.

“Miku?”

“mhmm?” A tired voice answered her from the bed.

“Goodnight” Naomi said quietly, only just loud enough for Miku to hear.

“Goodnight...sister”.

It was such a small word, but it truly filed Naomi with happiness like no other. She turned her attention back to the sink. She had some dishes to do!

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew...... Dear lord. I've been writing this chapter from 8 pm yesterday, just as I got back from the family reunion. It's 7 am now. 11 hours. I've barely eaten and not slept anything tonight. This is the longest chapter so far, consider it my treat! :3
> 
> I need to babysit today. I'm guessing i'll be off duty around 3 pm. Then I'll sleep. Please gimmie some feedback to keep me going until then, I'm begging you. >.<
> 
> Oh,one more thing in case it's unclear.;  
> 1 vocaloid going trough the router = soundless  
> 2 vocaloids going trough the router = snapping noise  
> 3 vocaloids going trough the router = loud snapping noise


	8. Not a chapter!

Sorry to dissapoint you. I'm working on the next chapter though, It should be up by this weekend if not sooner.

What I wanted to say is that school's been starting again, which will mean that I will not be able to write and post chapters in the same frequency as before. I'll still try to add one chapter per week, but I can't promise you guys anything. Right now I'm trying to write on my longer breaks but I'm guessing that most of the writing will have to be done on the weekends.

 

Anyway, I have a question for you. **How many vocaloids shouls be included in the future vocaloid home?** At first I had just planned for it to be the main six (Meiko, Kaito, Miku, Rin & Len and Luka) but now I've mentioned Gumi in one chapter and I kind of want to future Neru in one of the last chapters (more on that in later chapters, and yes, I know that she's a not an official vocaloid but a fanloid).

 

I will of course not be able to future every single vocaloid created since that would be confusing for both me to write and confusing for you to read. So, do you haver any vocaloid you think should be included? I'll except mostly anything.


	9. The calm before the storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naomi and Miku have some bonding time and it's finally time for the visit from her big brother!

The dishes were finally done and Naomi could hear Miku snoring all the way from the kitchen. Saying she snored loudly was almost an understatement. Her snores could almost compare to those excessive cartoon snores that she’d laughed at as a child when she’d watched them on saturday mornings.

Still, they sounded peaceful. Naomi had made sure to go check up on her once in awhile, and every time Miku had been slightly smiling in her sleep, as if she was dreaming about something truly amazing.

Therefore, Naomi did not have the heart to wake her. Instead she made one more cup of tea and sat down by the kitchen table to do some well needed homework. The mere thought about homework made her yawn. It wasn’t fun, but she’d rather do it now than wait for it to stack up and have a homework marathon on thursday evening. So she gathered all of the mental strength she had left from today and opened the at least ten year too old history book on page 43 and started reading.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About an hour later it seemed like Miku had decided to finally wake up. She wasn’t really quiet about announcing her awokal either, stretching and yawning loudly.

 

“Good morning” she said as she sheepishly rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

“Or something. It’s almost nine in the evening, you know.” Naomi tried to sound playfully strict, but it was hard to hide her quite obvious smile behind the teacup (which had cooled long ago, together with the last few drops of tea that was in it).

“Oh you don’t mind it really, admit it. Besides, that was by far the best sleep I’ve gotten in ages. Your bed is like a fluffy marshmallow!”

Seeing her like this, it was hard for Naomi to imagine the utter distress she had been in just a few hours before. It almost felt like everything had been a dream, even though it had happened only hours before.

 

‘They’re almost like to different persons, Happy-Miku and Distressed-Miku’ Naomi thought as she closed the book and drank the final sip of cold tea from the cup.

Her train of thought was interrupted by a pained whimper from Miku. Naomi looked over to the bed and saw Miku clutching her injured shoulder tightly in one hand, a look of pain on her delicate features.

 

“What’s wrong?” Miku looked up at Naomi.

“It’s my shoulder. It’s sore and it throbs horribly.” Miku answered, shoulder still held tightly in one hand.

Naomi rose from the chair she’d been sitting on and made her way over to the bed.

“May I have a look?” she asked as she sat down beside her. Miku looked a little unsure at first, but then nodded carefully.

 

After carefully detaching the bobby pin from it’s place Naomi began to slowly peel of the compress. What met her was not a beautiful sight. Whilst the blood had clumbed together quite well, the affected area was still sore and warm to the touch. Naomi gulped quietly and took a closer look, trying to examine the wound without touching it too much. It did not seem to be infected, but it was clear that it still was painful.

“Okay, I don’t think it’s infected, so this is what we’ll do. I’ll change this compress to a new, clean one and give you some tablets to help with the pain. Try to not lay down on it too much… And if you have time I would like to clean and change it once more tomorrow morning. Does that sound okay to you?”

“Yes, it does.” Miku said with a small nod. “I mean, you seem to know what do do.”

“Yes. Well, sort of. Wait here, I’ll go get a a few things.” Naomi said and began walking over to the bathroom. Pushing the door open she was once again reminded about how she hadn’t yet cleaned out the bathroom from the night before. It still looked like a bloody massacre, the biggest difference being the blood’s color shift from bright red to a rusty brown. It almost looked like someone had dripped rusty paint all over the bathroom floor.

 

‘Lucky me to at least have a decent bathroom floor that’s easy to clean.’ Naomi thought with an amused smile as she looked around in the drawers for more compresses since the first aid kit had only contained one.

Finally finding one in the cabinet underneath the sink Naomi returned to the main living area to find Miku sitting on the floor beside the bed, the worn out children’s book (that they’d used to practice english a few days before) in her lap, her tongue slightly sticking out as she made a concentrated face. Naomi found just the time to think about how adorable it looked before she looked up.

 

“I don’t remember it being this hard to learn japanese. It may be because I’m so unused to it. I think I’ve got it all correct, but then everything just becomes a blubbering mess inside of my head.” Miku resolutely closed the book and put it aside. Naomi knelt down beside her.

“It takes time. It actually took me almost a year to learn to put words together properly. “ Naomi told her as she put a small amount of disinfectant on a clean cotton pad.

 

“I know that… I just want to get it on already! Right now it just feels like I’m just backtracking. At this rate I’ll never get bet-AH!” Miku’s babbling was cut off mid sentence by the stinging sensation the disinfectant caused to the still tender wound. Naomi immediately stopped her cleaning.

 

“I’m sorry Miku. Just try to bear with it. I’m almost done.” Naomi said, voice laced with regret, as she resumed the cleaning, now with even more caution than before. Miku bit down on her lip and steeled herself for a couple of uncomfortable minutes.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fifteen minutes later Miku’s wound had been cleaned and dressed once more. Since it had been getting late Miku had decided to (somewhat reluctantly) go back to “The emptiness” and Naomi had started getting ready for bed.

As she brushed her teeth, she thought through how her life had changed since the vocaloids had stumbled into it. Even though they had turned her life into an emotionally exhausting rollercoaster, she couldn’t have been happier. For the first time in a long time, she felt truly needed by other persons and that feeling alone made her whole body tingle with happiness.

“They might have turned my my life upside down” She spit the foamy toothpaste into the sink. “But I wouldn’t trade it for the world.” She gave her reflection a confident smile before turning the lights off and closing the bathroom door.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The week that followed went through in a rather slack pace. The four friends would meet up for a few minutes in the morning and talk over a cup of tea before Naomi went to school, leaving them to do god knows what (but seeing how her pantry had been getting more and more empty for each passing day, Naomi had a pretty solid theory about what went on when she wasn’t around). When Naomi came home they’d keep her company when she ate dinner and (tried) to do her homework. I if they had any time left before bedtime Naomi would either help Miku with her reading or teach the vocaloids how to play different card games (because really, what else do you do when there’s no internet?)

Learning them how to play had not been the easiest, but now that they knew how, they never wanted to stop. Miku in particular had become very interested in poker and she dedicated every round to mercilessly drag poor Len through the dirt with her skills.

The only two events worth noting during the course of the week were Naomi’s payment to the internet cafe and a visit from her landlord.

The payment had gone good enough. If by good you mean paying a receptionist that doesn’t even look up when he speaks and even seemed to be just a tiny bit too high to manage a desk job when Naomi had come to pay up.

 

‘I’ve never really wished for someone to be fired but I have to admit, I almost hope he does. Or at the very least try to put some reins onto his life.’ Naomi had thought as she’d walked out through the door of the worn down lobby.

The visit from Naomi’s landlord had been a little more exciting. He came knocking on the door just as she and the three vocaloids were finishing up their third round of poker for the evening. Almost immediately, a strong nervousness had broken out and Rin had even yelped in panic. Very unsure about what to do Naomi had led them to the bathroom and asked them to keep as quiet as possible while she talked to the landlord.

He was of course there to discuss the replacement of her router (but didn’t say word about the water damage, Naomi noted) which put Naomi in a difficult situation since she couldn’t get it fixed just yet. She tried to wriggle out of the situation by saying that she’d already talked to another company that would fix her internet sometime in the near future, but that only seemed to make him suspicious since that would mean that she’d have to pay for that herself. She finally came up with an excuse about how one of her siblings worked for the company and how she really wanted to support them since they’d started  up the company quite recently.

He didn’t seem like he believed her 100%, but still enough that the bought it. Thankfully, he did not ask for the name of the company but left, saying that she now had to stand for the costs of the new internet.

Finally closing the door behind him Naomi sank to the ground with her back against the door. She tried (and failed) to get her breathing under control. That had really been close. Had her landlord seen either one of the vocaloids, she had no idea how to explain herself. Even if he didn’t know who they were, they still didn’t look completely human and really,  how do you explain that you have living, breathing manga characters in your apartment?

 

Suddenly, the bathroom was opened and three tufts of colorful hair stuck their heads out.

 

“You really look like you’ve had a heart attack!” Miku called from the other end of the room.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally friday rolled around and it was the day Stefan was due to visit.

Naomi usually quit school quite early on fridays ad therefore decided to do some grocery shopping after school, just to stack up some food for the weekend to come. When she’d asked her three friends what she should buy she’d not really been surprised when they’d all mentioned their favorite food. But since she was on a budget, she only bought a small amount of each food.

Then there was food for her and Stefan…

Naomi must’ve surely walked around the grocery store at least four times whilst thinking about things like which food they both liked and disliked and how much money she had to spend. She wasn’t very satisfied with her final decisions, but it would have to. She still needed to clean up the mess that was her studio apartment before he arrived. Which should be in about…

She looked at her mobile screen.

 

....One hour

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“I’m so excited to finally meet your brother!” Miku squealed as she ran around around Naomi’s legs like an excited puppy. Figuratively speaking. Naomi felt like a babysitter, trying to unpack groceries and doing the dishes as well as trying to keep Miku seated by the kitchen table. 

“Yes, It will be fun. I’m very excited as well. Would you please sit still now?” Naomi said as she once again led Miku over to the chair by the kitchen table.

“I’m sorry! I’m just so excited to meet him. It feels like I’m about to burst!”

“Yes about that… I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to meet him right away.”

“What do you mean? Will I scare him away? I can act proper as well, you know.”

 

“Yes,it’s just a lot to take in, telling him that a computer program is alive and…. Right now making a mess of my kitchen floor.” Naomi scolded playfully as Miku combed her hands through her hair, successfully dropping heaps of teal hair on the floor.

“Oh?” Miku looked down on the floor and then back at Naomi, a tiny blush tinted her otherwise pale face.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.” Miku said with a lightly embarrassed face as she reached down to pick up the colorful strands.

“No It’s okay, I’ll fix it. But you kind of need to leave now. I don’t want Stefan to run away at the sight of you in my kitchen. No offense, it’s just very… Unusual”

“No it’s okay. I will not give him a heart attack, I promise!” Miku answered as she promptly stood up and got ready to go back to her least favorite place in the world.

“Good to hear. Now, I’ll try to convince him to follow me to “The emptiness”. But in case that doesn’t work, just come here in about an hour, ok?”

 

“Will do.” And then she was gone.

 

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About fifteen minutes later there was a knock on the door, just as Naomi was done cleaning up the mess Miku had done to the poor kitchen floor. Her heart made a leap of excitement and she somehow wasn’t able to wipe of the goofy grin from her face. Finally, he was here!

‘Right on time’ Naomi thought as she went to answer the door, the broad smile still plastered on her face.

**Author's Note:**

> I would die for some thoughts about the chapter and of course kudos. Thank you for reading, the next chapter should be up in a couple of days.


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